Cloris Leachman, the multi-award winning star of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Last Picture Show and Young Frankenstein, has passed away at the grand age of 94.

Leachman passed away of natural causes on Tuesday night at her home in California, with her daughter Dinah by her side.

The nine-time Emmy winner’s career in the industry began shortly after she competed in the 1946 Miss America Pageant, when she made her debut on the ‘Actors Studio’ TV series.

After years of landing small roles on television, Leachman had her breakthrough in the 1970s when she played the landlady Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77).She won two Emmys for her acclaimed performance and this resulted in the character getting her own spinoff entitled Phyllis (1975-77). Though the programme was less popular than its predecessor, Leachman still managed to land her sole Golden Globe win in 1976.

She also clinched a Best Actress (Single Drama) Emmy win for her role as an ageing mother-to-be in the drama A Brand New Life (1973).

During that lucrative period, Leachman also made the successful leap to the big-screen with her powerful performance as Ruth Popper, a bored housewife who embarked on an affair with a high-school student in the acclaimed Peter Bogdanovich drama The Last Picture Show (1971).

Multiple accolades came her way which included a BAFTA and more importantly, the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

However, she was also able to showcase her comedic talents in film with her humorous turns as neglected wife Nettie Appleby in Charley and the Angel (1973) and as feared housekeeper Frau Blücher in the horror spoof Young Frankenstein (1974).

Other notable awards successes included a further three Emmy wins for her guest roles in the drama Promised Land (1996) and as Grandma Ida in the hit sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000-06).

Her other recognisables roles spanning across seven decades included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), High Anxiety (1977), The Muppet Movie (1979), The Facts of Life (1986-88), The Ellen Show (2000-01), Bad Santa (2004), Spanglish (2004), The Longest Yard (2005), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Raising Hope (2010-14) and the Mad About You reboot (2019).

Leachman also voiced characters on several projects, including The Simpsons (1991), Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), The Iron Giant (1999), Bob’s Burgers (2016), and more recently, The Croods (2013) and its sequel The Croods: A New Age (2020).She is survived by five children.